When Copernicus claimed that the Earth was not the centre of the universe, he was excommunicated. In spite of the establishment's attempt to marginalise his ideas, they are now central to our cosmic understanding. He turned the universe inside out.

When the Chilean biologist Humberto Maturana published his little known but ground breaking paper about what the frog's eyes tells the frog's brain, he also turned our understanding of the central nervous system inside out. He went on to show that the nervous system has no "holes" for information to get in - it is a closed system - so all we can do is to created a perturbation and observe the result. We cannot predict what the result of our interaction will be, since that is a function of the individual's own structure. This makes telling, suggesting and giving advice into actions which are insane.

Erickson assumed this, without looking for a theory, and invited us to accept whatever the client brought and utilise it. He invited us to observe, to observe, and to observe, then to utilise, to utilise and to utilise so we can discover how each individual can respond from within their own unique structure.

His invitation continues to be a loving, respectful approach to any human dilemma. He turned the therapeutic relationship inside out and made the client the centre of their universe.

Rob McNeilly